MR. BISON
Seaward SUBSOUND
Oceanic Italian prog/psych trio get their rocks on
The eye-catching sleeve may look like it should have been hanging in a bohemian student bedsit circa 1969, and the hippie shirts, beards and fedora are all present and correct, but this Italian power trio sound more like their introduction to psychedelic acid fuzz came in the 90s via Monster Magnet, The Hellacopters and Motorpsycho. Mr. Bison’s fourth LP is a nautical concept album, so they’ve audibly got themselves some groovy chemistry going on. Average song lengths have expanded with the prog quotient, although the songs remain pointed, varied and accessible. Emotive vocals and harmonies reveal far more skill and effort than most in the psych idiom, and there’s a weighty, ripping metallic flair throughout, rendered warm and hazy by haunting wafts of sonic patchouli.